Insolvency for Loewe? The German TV company that survived Hitler, but has struggled recently

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Some rather sad news from Germany. The TV maker Loewe, which has been making sets since the 1930s, has filed for insolvency and unless it can attract a new investor in the next three months will close for good.

UPDATE – the company has just responded to say

Its ‘insolvency’ announcement is apparently a pre-planned part of an ongoing restructuring process, and not a cause for immediate concern!

Loewe’s possible demise comes as no surprise as there’s some serious carnage in the TV manufacturing world at the moment. Toshiba has recently cut jobs, Philips did a deal in 2011 with Chinese firm TP Vision to save its division and many of the Japanese giants of yore – Panasonic JVC and Sharp have cut back production.

It would be a tragedy for the brand to die for good, It has been in business for 90s years. Dr. Siegmund Loewe and his brother David Ludwig Loewe started the company in 1923 in Berlin making radios, but inspired by the exploits of John Logie -Baird began TV production in1931. In fact Manfred von Ardenne presented the world’s first fully electronic television to the public on the Loewe stand at the 8th Berlin Radio Show.

During that time the brothers befriended a scientist Albert Einstein (pictured below at the IFA show in 1930) a friendship that was rekindled in the late 30s when to escape the Nazis Siegmund Loewe emigrated to the USA. Loewe began the company again after the war building not just TVs, but also cassette players. In the 90s and 00s the company was noted for its stylish flat screen sets.